The present invention relates to a new recording and/or reproducing apparatus and a new recording medium cartridge holder. In particular, the present invention relates to a technique for realizing space saving of a recording and/or reproducing apparatus, and to a technique for preventing improper insertion of a recording medium cartridge, that is, insertion of a recording medium cartridge in an orientation other than a normal orientation in a recording medium cartridge holder with a simple mechanism.
In recording and/or reproducing apparatuses for recording and/or reproducing signals on and/or from a recording medium disk, it is required to provide a loading mechanism, that is, a mechanism for withdrawing the recording medium disk to a specific position in an apparatus main body and mounting the recording medium disk to a specific mounting position, and also to provide a mode formation mechanism, that is, a mechanism for bringing each of members into a specific state suitable for a reproducing or recording mode.
In related art recording and/or reproducing apparatuses, the above-described loading mechanism and mode formation mechanism have been provided at separate locations, particularly, as viewed from above, as individual mechanisms. Accordingly, there has arisen a problem that since these mechanisms are disposed at respective spaces, it is required to ensure a large space for these mechanisms in the apparatus.
On the other hand, there has been known a recording medium cartridge configured such that a recording medium is contained in a flat cartridge case formed into a rectangular shape having a long-side and short-side as viewed from above, wherein the recording medium cartridge is inserted with its long-side portion directed forwardly in the insertion direction.
In a recording and/or reproducing apparatus using the above-described recording medium cartridge, it is required to prevent the insertion of the recording medium cartridge in an orientation other than a normal orientation, that is, improper insertion of the recording medium cartridge in a recording medium cartridge holding portion for holding the recording medium cartridge.
Various mechanisms have been proposed for preventing insertion of a recording medium cartridge in a cartridge holder of a recording and/or reproducing apparatus with the front and rear sides or the upper and lower sides erroneously reversed to each other; however, effective means for preventing insertion of a recording medium cartridge in a cartridge holder with a short-side portion thereof directed forwardly in the insertion direction have been little proposed, and the proposed means have presented problems in terms of complicated mechanism and poor usability.